What Does salvation Mean
The Latin word salvatĭo came to our language as salvation . It is about the act and the result of saving or being saved . This verb, for its part, refers to locating something or someone safe; to avoid a risk; to exclude one thing from what is done with another; or, on the level of religion , to access divine glory.
For example: "With the victory of Deportivo San Lucas, the salvation of the local team will no longer be possible: next year, they will have to play in the Second Division" , "The firefighters worked all night to save the property" , "You should change your way of life if you aspire to the salvation of your soul . "
Salvation can be associated to escape a danger , whether real or symbolic. When a person succeeds in rescuing a child who is trapped in the middle of a flood, such action will constitute the salvation of the minor. On the other hand, if a tennis player is losing a match that is suspended due to rain and then, after the restart, manages to turn the match around, it could be said that the interruption of the match was their salvation.
In a religious context, salvation is linked to freeing the soul from an eventual perpetual punishment that would come after death. For Catholicism, salvation consists of freeing oneself from sin to achieve eternal life with God .
Catholic Salvation
In general, salvation is associated with accessing the Kingdom of Heaven , something that implies avoiding Hell . It is normal for religious people to wonder what they must do to access salvation, especially when they discover their love for God within them and feel a genuine need to be by his side when their time on Earth is over.
It all started in the garden of Eden , when Adam and Eve ignored God's orders. In this way, they lost the right to feed on the tree of life , thanks to which they could have lived forever. God expelled them from Eden, nullifying the possibility of having the relationship he desired with his children, since having fallen into sin made them impure and unworthy to be in his presence.
When human beings move away from God, they create their own rules, erect their own structures and follow generally materialistic plans. However, since God created him to live in communion with him, man cannot escape the need to return to his side; a dissatisfaction accompanies him inside and he can only satisfy it if he approaches his Father again.
Priests are often faced with the following question on the part of the faithful: what are the steps that I must follow to achieve salvation? As expected, there is no instruction manual that we can follow infallibly so that God receives us by his side. In the first place, it is necessary to understand that it is a path that we must travel throughout our lives , and not a mission that we can solve in a few hours or a couple of days before our death .
This does not mean that God has not left and does not continue to leave clues, messages that help us understand his will, what he wants us to do with the opportunities he gave us by allowing us to be born on Earth. In the first place is the Bible, where a large number of stories told by Jesus himself are presented, from which we can learn to become good people. On the other hand, there are also the seven sacraments , including confession, which give us the possibility of directing our lives towards the Kingdom of Heaven.